


From London With Love

by zarrati



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene, paris fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 07:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2380316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarrati/pseuds/zarrati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing Scene from "London". Ben gives Leslie the pep talk that she desperately needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From London With Love

 

Moonlight trickled into hotel room, illuminating the bed and its occupants in a soft glow. One snored lightly, his mouth slack and a tiny puddle of drool forming on his pillow. The other was not so fortunate.

She sat upright in the bed, her body pulsing with nervous energy as she hugged her knees to her chest. Her mind raced despite the tiredness of her body. Her fingers itched to write, to plan out her next move in an attempt to repair as much damage as she possibly could.

Unfortunately, Ben had strategically locked away all of her binders and writing utensils in the hotel safe. He didn't want her last night in London to be spent pouring over idea binders and writing caffeine induced media responses.

At that moment, Leslie equally loved him and hated him. All she wanted to do right now was fly home and fix this mess--the mess that she created--and she couldn't even jot down some notes.

Leslie let out another frustrated sigh as she tried to keep track of the ideas running through her head. She angrily glanced over at her sleeping husband, envious of his ability to rest while her entire life was falling apart.

She thought back to earlier that evening, rushing back to the hotel room after the Award's Ceremony and dumping the extra binders that she had packed onto the bed. Ben stood frozen in the middle of the room as she ran around him, response ideas pouring from her mouth at a rate too fast for him to follow. He looked surprised that the majority of her suitcase had been filled with binders, but it didn't last long. He should have known that she'd bring binders with her on their trip to London.

Who wouldn't get inspired with ideas in one of the world's greatest cities?

Leslie got lost in her own ramblings, binders surrounding her on the bed as she wrote at a manic pace. She needed to publish an apology in the newspaper, try to get on Perd's show and defend herself, and finalize phase 26. If she stayed up all night and didn't sleep on the plane, she'd have most of that ready by the time they got back home.

She almost forgot that Ben was still in the room with her until she felt his hands start to massage her tense shoulders, a moan slipping out from between her lips as her eyes involuntarily slipped shut. Her head lolled forward and the pen slipped from between her fingers as Ben continued to knead her sore muscles.

Just as she was about to get lost in the sensation, Ben stopped. Leslie cracked an eye open and saw her husband collecting her scattered binders.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice a mixture of genuine confusion and panic.

"Leslie, you're frustrated, stressed, and exhausted. Hell, we both are. The last thing that you need right now is to stay up all night working on these binders. We just need to get a good night's sleep, and I'll help you with whatever you need on the plane tomorrow. I'm just gonna put these in the safe so you won't be tempted, and maybe you can finally relax."

"What? No, you can't do that! Ben, I need those binders. I have to start strategizing. Don't you dare start walking towards that safe. Ben, I mean it. Not another step closer. Ben!" she finally yelled as she leapt from the bed and jumped onto her husband's back.

"Leslie, what the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm trying to stop you. What does it look like I'm doing," she retorted, trying to slap the binders out of his hands as she struggled to maintain her grip.

Despite Leslie's best efforts, Ben managed stagger his way towards the safe and lock the binders inside, his head and hands obstructing Leslie's view of the passcode.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you just did that!" she exclaimed as she jumped off of Ben's back, giving him a small shove forward in the process. "I'm going to lose this recall election and it'll be all your fault."

"Leslie, one night is not going to kill you or your recall chances."

"You don't know that, and either way, you had no right to lock my things in there."

"Ok, maybe that wasn't the best thing to do, but that's the only way that I know to prevent you from working. This is our last night in London, Leslie. We've both had very exhausting days, and I really can't afford to lose another night's sleep while you work. Please?"

The demand for Ben to open up the safe died on Leslie's lips as she looked into his pleading eyes. They were tired, and the dark circles beneath them were more prominent than usual.

She realized that these last few weeks were finally catching up to him. Between fighting the recall and preparing for his meeting with Lord Covington, Ben was running on as much sleep as herself, which his body was certainly not used to.

Leslie's face softened, and after a brief inner struggle, she gave in.

"Fine, no work. The binders can stay in the safe, but just this once. I swear, Ben, if you do anything like this again-"

"I won't.  I promise," he said quickly as relief flooded his face and his whole body relaxed.

"Good. But since you took away my binders, that means that you are now responsible for distracting me and helping me relax." A devious smile played on her lips.

"That seems only fair," he flirted back. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"I think you can start by finishing that massage you were giving me before kidnapping my binders," she said as her hands came up to slowly loosen Ben's tie.

"Well, that sounds both distracting and relaxing," he teased as he brushed his lips against hers. Leslie released a sigh into his mouth as one of Ben's hands snuck its way to her back and slowly lowered the zipper to her dress.

***

Leslie was brought back to the present by a loud snore next to her. She was really starting to regret giving up her pens and binders so easily.

She eyed the small safe and wondered if Ben had written down the combination somewhere that she might find it. She doubted he used any of his common passcodes. She knew all of those. He must have assumed that at _some_ point in the night she'd try to break into the safe.

Leslie was seriously contemplating writing her notes down in lipstick on toilet paper before she saw Ben's Padfolio on his nightstand. Looking back down at Ben's slack face, Leslie convinced herself that rifling through her husband's things in search of a passcode to open a safe that she promised she wouldn't go into wouldn't be the _worst_ thing she could’ve done. He was sound asleep so she at least wouldn't be bothering him.

Moving as gently as she could, Leslie lifted herself higher on the bed, slowly moving her arm over her husband and towards the nightstand. Cursing her short arms, she stretched herself as far as she was able, her fingers barely grazing the surface of the Padfolio as her body hovered precariously over Ben's.

"The code isn't in there."

"Jesus!"

Her husband's sudden statement caused Leslie to collapse on top of him, a collective "oomf" being let out as both got the breath knocked out of them.

"Did you really think that I'd put anything in my Padfolio that I didn't want you to find?" Ben asked as Leslie scrambled back to her side of the bed.

"No, but it seemed like a good idea at the time," she said, upset that she had been caught. "But Ben," she whined, "I can't sleep. I need to write stuff down."

"I know you're on edge, but I thought without your stuff you'd at least pass out from exhaustion with all of the exercise you did today," he said sleepily, his eyes remaining closed as he turned towards her.

"Exercise? Is that what we're calling it now?" the ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

"I meant your walking tour of practically the entire city of London, but that too, I guess," he chuckled,  the gravel tone of his sleep riddled voice sending shivers down her spine. "But seriously, I know it's been a stressful day and all you want to do is fly home and fix everything, but you really need some sleep."

Leslie dropped her head into her hands and let out another frustrated groan. "I know, I know, but this is huge. How am I supposed to sleep 4,000 miles away from home knowing that my entire town heard that speech? As if they needed another reason to hate me. In two minutes I could have undone everything that I've worked for these last few months fighting this recall."

Ben gently pulled Leslie's hands away from her face and coaxed her to lie down next to him. He soothingly rubbed his hand up and down her body. His fingers danced over his Disc-Y Business t-shirt that she had haphazardly thrown over herself earlier. He was momentarily pleased to discover that she had not bothered to wear anything beneath it, but he soon turned his attentions back to his distraught wife.

"Leslie, I'm going to be 100% completely and brutally honest with you right now, ok?"  He continued at her slight nod. "This was bad. Really bad. You let everything that has been happening buildup inside of you until you finally couldn't handle it anymore and it blew up all over that stage. And you're right, this did some serious damage to your recall fight--"

"Wow, you really can't sugarcoat it just a little-"

"-But all that means is that we just have to fight harder. We can do this-- you can do this. We've overcome so much and have come too far to let this beat us. I don't know too many candidates that were polling at 1% and managed to work their way up and win an election over the city's most famous citizen. You did that, Les. You're still the same person that beat Bobby Newport, and somewhere, deep inside, the people of Pawnee know that. They're just caught up in all of this craziness."

"But what if that's not enough?" she responds back, her voice so soft and defeated that it broke Ben's heart. "What if my luck has run out? What if they don't think that I'm the same? What if my speech just proved to all of them how right they are about me? God, how could I say all of those things?" she choked out before burying her face into Ben's chest, the tears she tried so hard to keep at bay now threatening to spill over at any moment. "I've worked so hard for this. We've all worked so hard, and I blew it. This job has been my dream, but maybe they're right."

"Hey, don't even think like that," he whispers into her hair as he holds her against him. "Your speech might not have been the best way to respond, but I understand why you said what you did. Having to hear all of those other acceptance speeches, those women who are adored by their towns, was hard knowing everything that's happening back home. And while no one else in there might possibly understand how you feel, I do."

Ben inhaled deeply before continuing, the feeling of Leslie's expectant breath on his skin silently urging him on.

"I know what it's like to have an entire town hate you and throw you out of office. I know what it's like to try your hardest and have everyone turn against you. But because of that, I also know that you'll overcome this. I was an 18 year old kid that didn't know what I was doing, and when it got tough, I left without looking back."

He gently pulled Leslie away from his chest and caressed her cheek, seeking her eyes with his in the darkened room.

"But you won't do that--you can't do that. You stood for what you believed in, made the right decisions, and you're strong enough to deal with the consequences. I ran away, but not you. You're staying and you're fighting even if you have to help every Pawnee citizen personally. And it's not because you want to save your position, but because you truly want what's best for Pawnee, and I don't think anyone in that room tonight could make the same claim."

The confidence in his voice and the strength of his gaze sent shivers down Leslie's spine. Even after all of this time-- after government shutdowns, and Harvest Festivals, and elections and recall fights--the depth of faith that Ben had in her never failed to affect her. But even still, there was the smallest shred of doubt that crept its way in.

"I hope you're right. I really do. I mean, I want _so_ hard to believe everything that you and all of our friends have been saying, but I don't know if I can. I have been working on this non-stop because I don't _want_ to stop. Stopping means that I have time to think, really think, about this mess, and it scares me. I have worked my entire life for the career that I have now, and in a few weeks, my entire dream can come crashing down. It's just-- everything is changing. Chris and Ann are trying to have a baby, Ron now has his own family, Tom's focusing more on his business, and now you and Andy with your work for the Foundation. I don't know. It just feels like maybe me being recalled is the next change coming."

"Honey, yes, things are changing, but that's what happens in life. People grow, people have kids, people get married, people change careers. Even towns change. But that doesn't mean that everything has to change around it, and it doesn't mean that these things change the fundamentals of who everyone is. Chris and Ann will still be Chris and Ann even if they have a baby. Ron is still the same meat loving libertarian who's trying to destroy the government from the inside out despite now having a wife and kids. And I really believe that the people of Pawnee will eventually see through Jamm and this stupid recall committee, and they'll make the right choice. But you know what? Even if they don't and you do end up losing this recall, it can't change who Leslie Knope is. You will be who you were destined to be with or without that City Council seat, and I'll be right there beside you."

Leslie blinked back tears as she stared at her husband, a smile slowly forming on her lips that matched his own.

"Thank you. You always know what to say to make me feel better." She pressed her lips against his in a chaste kiss filled with love and gratitude.

"You should know by now that you never have to thank me for this. It's what I'm here for. We support each other in everything, right?"

"Right."

Their second kiss was cut short by a strong yawn from Leslie, who pulled away with a shy look in her eyes.

"Think you can finally manage to get some sleep before our flight?"

"I think so, yeah."

Leslie rested her head once again against Ben's chest, placing several soft kisses there as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her close.

"Since our flight doesn't leave until the afternoon, were there any other places you wanted to visit tomorrow?"

"There were a few places that I didn't get to today, but before we do anything tomorrow, I want to have at least one more visit with Big Ben."

"Leslie, again? I understand that it's a cultural landmark. but-" he stopped at the feeling of her small puffs of breath on his skin as she tried to stifle a laugh. "Wait, you weren't talking about the clock were you?"

Leslie shook her head, and Ben felt nothing but love and contentment as her cackle of laughter washed over him.


End file.
